


A Mess in the Underverse ...Eventually

by Causemufins



Series: 2-player Underverse Roleplay [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game), Underverse - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Long, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Canon, The Void, Underverse, known at the time, well- post known canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:08:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22779964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Causemufins/pseuds/Causemufins
Summary: In an au called Loopedtale(a tale universe with slightly different resets), Fresh, the parasite that likes to possess Sanses, ends up showing up. He opens up the universe to the rest of the underverse and that eventually leaves to shenanigans not just in loopedtale, but involving the whole multiverse (and even multimultiverse) into it.This is based on a roleplay a friend and I did starting back in 2017 and we only recently (feb 2020) took a break from it, so I've started to post it here. Since it wasn't originally for public eye, the multiverse involvement takes a while since we started with out own aus, but most stories that involve popular undertale aus are different from each other.Edit: the title has been changed and I gave it a better description
Series: 2-player Underverse Roleplay [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1637710





	1. Void after-party

**Author's Note:**

> So back in 2017, a friend and I started an undertale/underverse based roleplay between the two of us. It also included two aus of our own making that evolved over time so we could have our own unrestricted characters. It’s private because it’s really cringy, but eventually it’ll be public.  
> Now half of the reason I want to even post this is because it is super long. And that’s only in script format. If you know your facts, you may know why that matters. The other half is the other person has been busy and I wanted to do something.  
> I’ll start off most chapters with a bit of info you should know, but otherwise you’ll get some context in the chapters themselves. Still, for starting context, here’s this: Not shown is a starting bit based off of the CPAU (Christmas Party AU) some characters from the au of mine showed up and met up with some of the characters there. At one point, my Gaster met with Fresh!Sans and got threatened. The Gaster returns home to the void and then discusses what happens at the party. That is where this begins.

Deep within the void, a place so dark that the faint glow of one’s soul is easily visible, a large green glow speaks to a smaller teal glow. One is simply a soul, all by itself, it’s orientation showing it to be that of a human. The other seems to be a slightly deformed skeleton. It looks at the small soul, talking with it. “So it was rather odd actually. I hoped to study this one Sans but he was... off-putting to say the least. And I was supposed to not tell anyone but I think he said he was fine with me telling you.”

The soul, having no features other than being a soul, just seems to flicker slightly as a response, allowing the skeleton to continue. “Yes, I know I shouldn't have told you just in case, but I couldn't help it!”

Then a voice comes from an unknown origin. It sounds nothing like the skeleton, instead more echoey. “Well, he sounds like your kind of company.”

Though the skeleton has no eyelights within his eye sockets, he manages to somehow roll his eyes. “Hello Dee…” He groans slightly.

“Wow, and I bet he's as horrible as you. And remember, it's Chara.” The voice replied, a form appearing resembling a human though their eyes were pure black except for maybe a hint of a red glow from deep within. Their clothes were tattered and their hair messed up. Other than that, their form looked identical to Chara, a human from the skeleton’s universe and one many may be familiar with.”Now, is he off-putting in that he's like you, or in the way that he's like Mettaton?”

The skeleton froze at that comment and a light blush dusted his cheekbones before he stuttered out a response. “I… I d-don’t know wh-what y-you’re talking a-about.” Though he tried to sound confident, he ended up seeming anything but.

“Oh please, it’s obvious. You like him~” The faux human taunted. “Just think of what I can do with that.”

The skeleton waved his hands. “Wait, don’t you get any ideas! You’re bringing things off topic!”

Dee just gave a smile as they looked at the skeleton, faking innocence. “Oh is that so?”

The skeleton just looked annoyed. “If anything, he's more like you.”

Unfortunately, that just made Dee perk up. “Oh really? Well just wait until I get Frisk again. Ah, destroying universes together, how wonderful that would be.”

The skeleton just crossed his arms. “Oh please, I doubt he would stoop to your level. Besides, he seems like he's more powerful than you.”

“More powerful than me?” Dee was offended and swiftly moved right in front of the skeleton, making the human soul he had been talking with hide. “I created this part of the void Gaster. So far you've just told me he's like a parasite. I could probably ground him into dust. But you know, thanks for telling me all about him.”

“Like you can do anything while- wait…” Gaster began before thinking of something else, allowing Dee to take control of the conversation.

“That’s right, I can get out of the void and you can’t. You couldn’t do anything to stop me if you wanted to.”

That grabbed Gaster’s attention again. “Well he said he has a full army of monsters like him, so take that!”

He hoped it would shut Dee up, but it did anything but.”

“Weren't you  _ not _ supposed to tell me stuff like that?” Dee replied with a smile, making what little color was on the skeleton’s face drain as he paled. 

“I… u-um…” He began before an odd burst of color appeared from nowhere, leaving a skeleton a bit smaller than Gaster in its wake.

“WIGGY WIGGY WAZZUP BRAH!” The skeleton yelled, surprising Gaster and making him fall to the ground.

“And who is this?” Dee asked, eyeing the newcomer like fresh prey. 

Before Gaster could say much, the colorful skeleton replied instead. “I'm your local neighborhood skelepal, here to have some fun.” And he finished with a wink, though it wasn’t easily seen due to the glasses he wore.

Dee stared at the new skeleton with their mouth open in shock before holding back laughter. “Oh my gosh. Is this who you were talking about? The one ‘more powerful than me’ that is hilarious. It looks like something I could squish under my foot.”

“T-talk about who?” Gaster managed to say. “I didn't talk about anyone.”

Fortunately, Fresh didn’t seem to care he had been talked about as he focused on Dee. “Brah, my host is taller than you. I ain't scared of ya kiddo.”

“And I'm not scared of you, but it looks like someone is because he went and spilled all the beans about you. You're just some stupid parasite who chose a weak monster for a host.” Dee tried to turn Fresh on Gaster so they could take advantage of the situation

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to phase Fresh and he simply frowned. “G, your pal is unrad yo. They're all up bullying me brah.” he said to Gaster before looking back to Dee and tilted his glasses down. “Bullying is unfresh.”

“They’re not my-” Gaster tried to say, but was cut off.

“Oh you don't have to deny it Gaster. I'm one of the few friends you got. Besides, he likes when I do stuff like that. He practically begged me to mess with you.” Dee tried once more to make Fresh turn on Gaster. “and Gaster said how nice it would be for me to share all about you to others I meet. He said you wouldn't mind at all, that you were too much of a pushover to care.”

“I wouldn’t do that pal.” Fresh said, suddenly very serious, sending a shiver up Gaster’s spine.

Unfortunately, Dee was left unphased. “Aww, isn't that cute. It's like you're trying to seem threatening.”

Suddenly, there was another bright flash of colors making Gaster have to shield his eyes. When he looked back, Dee was just as colorful as Fresh had been and standing where Fresh used to be was a normal run of the mill looking Sans who looked around confused. “Wh-what? Where am I?”

From over with Dee, Fresh’s voice came from their mouth. “Sweet, new host. Thanks for getting me a new host brah.”

But Fresh’s comment fell one deaf ears as Gaster quickly moved over to the Sans. “O-oh, are you okay?” He asked, before looking up to where Dee had been, finding them now missing. “Where did the others go?”


	2. Where Fresh Went

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So after trying to possess Dee, both Fresh and Dee disappeared. Where did they go?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, now more information about the new characters.   
> Gaster(Belongs to me): From the universe Loopedtale, he’s from an au where time loops outside of the resets because some of the characters went back in time to make sure everything went right. Technically they don’t have to do this as each loop brings them to a different version of the au (so there’s like Loopedtale 1-100+) but they don’t know this and think not looping will destroy them all. At least one of the people who had to go back in time hates that that ‘need to’.  
> Dee(also belongs to me): An outcode, meaning they don’t belong to one universe. They are the Chara you meet at the end of a genocide run. They influence everyone with determination. If you have an actually good Chara in your au, they are the evil one that does killing. Their form changes based on the au into who you meet at the end of the genocide route. So if it’s a Underswap universe, they would be Frisk.  
> ???(belongs to the other person): The Sans Fresh had possessed. His au is Angsttale (a bit on the nose but I digress) you’ll learn more about them as the ‘story’ progresses.

No longer within the void, Dee looks down on Frisk within the house they share with the fallen human’s new family of friends. But Dee’s appearance has changed, looking more human than before. “What. The. HELL?!”

Frisk, instead of their normal attire of a blue and purple striped sweater, now is in a sweater of multiple blindingly fluorescent colors, a backwards ballcap and a pair of sunglasses reading YO-LO. They look up at Dee and simply say “Language brah.”

That makes them blow up even more as they start yelling. “Again… What the hell?! I mean I know you get upset about my language, but ‘brah? And what the hell are you wearing?” They gesture at the freshified Frisk, noticing their arms are covered by colorful clothes of their own. “What the hell am I wearing?!”

Fresh just shrugged “This is what happens when I possess ya.” He said nonchalantly.

“What you what?!” Dee yelled at the parasite. 

“Yup. Mah previous host is hangin' with ya homie in da void. Cool yeah?”

“No no no, that's not cool!” Dee yelled back.

“Well, I can't let ya spill da beans on me. Now can I?” Fresh said with another shrug. Not like they could spill much since they seemed to be tethered to him.

But Chara just seemed confused. “What beans?! Where did you even come from?!”

“Mmm, not really sure. I do know dat I can't survive long without a host. My old host was barely hangin' on and you were convenient.”

“I'm so confused!” They voiced before they seemed to flicker slightly, making a second version of them seem to appear that gave Fresh the finger. 

That second one looked much more like Dee did before.And that fact made Fresh stop smiling. “You're quite rude brah. I'd rather avoid doin' ya like I did a Frisk in some duplicate fellswap.”

From that comment, Dee’s, or rather, Chara’s form stabilized, making their twisted copy disappear. “I just said I was confused! How is that rude? If anything you're rude for taking Frisk's body!”

Fresh stared at them for a few seconds before shrugging. “A bro's gotta live.”

“Oh to hell with that, you could have given some kind of warning!”

Fresh tilted his head, still not having realized this wasn’t Dee. “Why?”

“Because you came out of nowhere! If you want to call me rude, stop being a hypocrite.” Chara yelled before looking to the side. “Wait is that the right word?”

“Well, you gave me an unrad gesture, I'm pretty sure most consider dat rude bro.” Fresh responded, crossing his arms and still not smiling.

“Un-rad gesture?”

“What do ya call it... The bird?” Fresh guessed.

“I... I didn't do anything like that!” Chara defended themself.

“Ya like... Flickered?” Fresh explained. “An' a version of you showed, flipping me da bird.” But that just left Chara more confused. “Uh, yeah, you got all up 'n mad or something and begun flickerin' yo.”

“That makes no sense!” They shouted back.

“Well your freaking out makes no sense.”

It was a simple comment, but it upset Chara a little more and they flickered once more, Dee briefly taking their place again. “Just wait until I crush you into dust!” They growled at Fresh before disappearing.

“You do realize I'm not actually a monster, right? Plus, my host is a human, so you can't even dust them.” He replied with a wink.

“Why are you being so confusing?!” They yelled, having missed what happened while Dee took their place.

“I'm not trying ta be confusing bro”

“Well somehow you're succeeding!”

“How am I succeeding if I'm not tryin' ta be confusing?” Fresh asked innocently.

“I don't know!” They yelled before being momentarily replaced. “It’s because of how stupid you are.”

“Whatevs brah, you're pretty wack yo.” Fresh said with a shrug, realizing getting Chara angry was a bad idea. Because of that, he decided to change the topic. “Anyway, you've got a really strong soul brah.”

“I... I guess so…” Chara responded, slightly surprised on the topic change. “Um… Frisk's got whatever was left of mine, so I guess it's like... a soul and a quarter, but still a single soul. Does that make sense?”

“Totally brah!” Fresh said with a thumbs up. “It'd kinda be like if someone were ta take mah big bro's soul.”

“Oh? Who's your big brother?” Chara asked, feeling curious.

“Well, we're not actually related, but Ink mentioned dat me, Geno and Error all have da same creator. They got so angry when I call dem my brothers. Its amusing.”

“Alright then.” Chara said, having no clue what Fresh was talking about. They almost asked, but there was other movement in their vision and they looked up. “Umm... I'd shut up if I were you right now.”

Fresh heard the serious tone in Chara’s voice and for a moment he could feel the slightest bit of fear for his life as he made sure to keep his mouth closed as he turned to see skeleton running towards them who was much taller than his previous host. A Papyrus.

“Human! There You Are!” Papyrus shouted happily as they reached Fresh, not seeming phased much by how he had Altered Frisk’s appearance. “My Brother Seems To Be Rubbing Off On You With His Laziness, But Your Attire Seems To Imply My Coolness Is Rubbing Off On You Too.”

“Thanks brah.” Fresh said with a wink, making Chara’s jaw drop before they face palmed, making Fresh look at them. “You okay brah? You hit your own face. Error seems to do dat a lot too.”

Before Chara could say anything, Papyrus spoke up. “Excuse Me! But I Would Like To Know Where My Human Friend Has Gone! I Seem To Have Mistaken You For My Human Friend Frisk!”

“What if I told ya I was Frisk?” Fresh said as he turned back to look at Papyrus, a sly smile appearing on his face.

“Then I Would Ask You To Please Leave My Friend Alone, Whoever You Are!”

Chara, being worried about what might happen to them if Papyrus wasn’t convinced, lost control to Dee once more. “Wow, I didn't even have to tell him, you blew your own cover.”

Fortunately, the parasite ignored Dee and focused on Papyrus, putting a hand on his chest. “Aww, I'm hurt. I am your pal.”

“I Would Approve Of You Better If You Ceased Your Lying!” Papyrus said, crossing his arms disapprovingly.

“I'm not lying bro. I am a friend!”

“Then Could You Give Me My Friend Back?!” Papyrus asked slightly exasperated.

“No can do bruh.” Fresh answered, both shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders. “I need a host and a little ghostie gave me access to this body. I haven’t had a human in awhile, I forgot how strong their souls are.”

“I didn't give you access!” Chara yelled at the parasite.

At almost the same time, since he couldn’t see or hear Chara, Papyrus also spoke. “Is Frisk Okay With This?”

“I dunno brah.” Fresh gave another shrug before his smile turned dark. “They scream like everyone else.”

Papyrus’ eye sockets went wide at what that implied. “You Are Hurting My Friend?!!”

“Nah bro, they ain't in pain.” Fresh defended himself. “I dunno why my hosts scream, but I'm not hurting them. They wouldn't even know what happened after I leave.”

“Then Can You Leave Them?!” Papyrus asked, hoping Fresh would comply.

“Sorry pal, I mean no harm. I need a host.” Fresh said, no longer smiling. “Finding a new one that isn't one of you could take too long and I could die.” He then pouted, hoping Papyrus would show him some sympathy. “You wouldn't want me to die, would you?”

“Well No,” Papyrus briefly agreed. “But If The Human Seems To Be Screaming From What You Are Doing, It Cannot Be Good!”

“Dey all scream, but its not from pain or anything.” Fresh explained hoping to calm Papyrus down. “They're fine as long as I get another host before they die. Which I usually do. Occasionally something will happen where I can't, but dont worry 'bout dat.” He gave a wink. “Your friend will be fine.”

“Usually Is Not Good Enough For Me!” 

“As long as you don't get me all up stuck here, I'll leave when I find a new host. My old host had maybe a few hours. I made a promise to let him go so I had no choice. I couldn't risk messin with a threat from Ink yo.”

“Who Is Ink?” Papyrus asked, not knowing the name.

“He's kinda like me- minus da possesin peeps- but he follows through on his threats. When he remembers.” He explained, saying the last part under his breath. “I've nearly died ta him for possessin’ important peeps.”

“He Does Not Sound Nice!” Papyrus replied. Even if Fresh were slightly endangering Frisk, the skeleton still didn’t like anyone threatening others with death.

“I dunno,” Fresh shrugged. “He's a radical dude yo. You seem cooler though.”

“Well Thank You! I Am The Great Papyrus After All!” Papyrus boasted, glad for the praise. It made Chara roll their eyes, but they were still smiling. At least if they had to deal with Fresh, Papyrus could make it a little more bearable.


	3. Adopted Child Number 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back in the void, Gaster and that Sans Fresh left get to interact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, you can probably tell from the first two chapters, but this fic has a bunch of ocs. Like. a lot. The ones we use mainly are still from taleverses so it’s not too bad. Well okay ones like Dee and someone else that we’ll see eventually are outcodes like Ink and Core Frisk so they don’t quite belong to other universes but there’s not too many.   
> I say this as I can think of the time we just made an entire multiverse full of new outcodes. Though we don’t focus on it too much and we’re still on “part 1” which is basically just “this is all the text we pasted into one google doc until the doc had trouble holding it all without crashing.” Like, chapter three starts on page 6 of 22 on the first doc and that’s like the smallest page count. Some of them are almost or even are around 200. AND WE HAVE 20 OF THEM. AND NOT EVERYTHING WAS EVEN PASTED IN DOCS. The outcode outburst was like in part 10 or something.  
> What was I talking about? Oh yeah. Anywho, we use a mix of universe ocs and somewhat canon underverse characters, but with the ocs we try not to make them too out there and they’re mainly just au characters. Others are actually based on fics from here on Ao3. If they show up I’ll even mention them… if I remember when we get there, though I probably will.

Gaster stared at the Sans Fresh had left behind. They looked just like the Sans he knew and raised and saw grow up. Still, he had just met Fresh who looked like a Sans but wasn’t, and had known Dee for ages and they definitely weren’t actually Chara. “So, who are you?”

“I’m Sans. Sans the skeleton.” They said with a shrug.

“I-Is that so?” The taller skeleton managed to get out. He was both glad and upset that this was just a normal Sans. The teal soul from before noticed his nervousness and stopped hiding and softly flickered which seemed to help calm Gaster down.

“Yeah.” The Sans replied before looking around in the endless black and lightless expanse that was the void. “Where are we?”

Gaster didn’t respond immediately as he seemed to be quietly conversing with the soul. “No I’m getting there. Oh sorry! We are in the void. It’s… sort of my home.” He explained to Sans.

“Okay. Cool. This is fine. This is great. Wonderful.” Sans said, seemingly trying to convince himself not to have a mental breakdown at the thought of being in such a place. “Uh, how did I get here?”

“I would assume it would be from whatever parasite previously took ahold of your body. It seems to go by the name of Fresh.” Gaster explained to Sans. The nearby soul responded with some soft flickering which seemed to give the tall skeleton an idea. “Ah, yes! What’s the last thing you remember?”

Sans tried to catch up with the information he was given. “I was infected by a parasite? What? Oh uh, last thing I remember was I was listening to Papyrus ramble on about how his training session with Undyne went earlier that day. Suddenly everything went black and I felt pain I think? And now I feel really weak.” He then sat down on the ground, putting a hand to his head.

“C-Careful!” Gaster stuttered out as he moved next to Sans to make sure he was alright.

At the same time, Sans summoned his soul to check on it, and it did not look good. It was translucent and there was a faint crack starting at the top and going down to around halfway down the soul. “Wh-what?”

“That’s… not good.” Gaster commented when he saw the soul. He then turned to look at the nearby teal soul. “Go get Leigh. They might be able to help. Sans, I’ll try my best to heal you for now, but I’m rather rusty, so who knows how well it will work.”

Sans was in too much shock from the state of his soul. “I… I don’t know what happened. I- Oh stars, Papyrus must be so worried!”

Gaster just nodded silently as he moved his hands near Sans’ soul. They now had a soft green glow from the healing magic that was being used. “Does it feel like it’s working?”

“N-not much, but at least a little bit.” Sans said, staring at his soul. He watched the hands trying to heal it for a few moments before looking up. “You’re… not my Gaster, are you?

The comment surprised the other skeleton and it caused his hands to tremble slightly which led to the healing glow disappearing for a moment before returning. “W-What are you talking about?”

“My Gaster never healed anyone.” Sans answered. “Actually, he was kind of an ass to everyone around him. You’re too nice to be him.”

Gaster gave a small smile. “I guess I should take that as a compliment. I-” He was cut off as the teal soul came back followed by another soul, this one green instead. The green one moved close to Sans nearby where Gaster’s hands were. “Ah, you returned! Sans, they should be able to heal you more effectively than I.” He moved his hands away and the new soul took their place and started glowing just as the hands did. “Is that any better?”

“Yeah, thanks.” Sans said with a slight sigh from how the healing felt. “I still feel weak, but it’s definitely better.”

Gaster gave a sigh of his own, this one just of relief that it was helping. “That’s good, but Leigh should stay with you to keep healin- Wait, Leigh, are you fine with that?” He quickly asked, making the soul glow just a little brighter for a moment. “Thank you. Anyway, I’m sorry you ended up here. I could blame Dee, but really… I’m pretty sure it’s my fault.”

Sans looked up at Gaster with confusion. “How could this be your fault? You didn’t tell the parasite to leave me here, did you? I mean, I could have ended up somewhere way worse than this.”

“Yes, but I think I’m the reason it brought you here.” Gaster explained. “And while there may be a worse place than this, the void is still pretty up there in terms of bad places. So again, I’m sorry.

Sans just shook his head. “Eh, you should a _ void _ apologizing again. Its fine, I swear.”

For a good ten seconds, Gaster just stared at Sans before bursting out laughing. “Oh my, I haven’t heard a pun like that in ages.”

“Well you have been alone.” Sans said with a shrug before smiling. “My  _ Sans _ ational puns will fill that  _ void _ in your soul from the lack of puns.”

That made Gaster laugh even more, and he ended up letting out a laugh that one of his own sons had picked up from him. One that this Sans definitely recognised and it made him freeze up. Gaster didn’t notice Sans’ reaction until he spoke up. “That’s a… pretty interesting laugh you’ve got there.”

“H-huh?” Gaster managed to get out as he stifled his laughter, now seeing the slightly pained look on the other skeleton’s face. “D-did I do something wrong Sans?”

Quickly, Sans waved his hands to try and calm Gaster down. “No! No… S-Sorry, it’s nothing.”

Gaster could still tell it wasn’t really nothing and he looked away sadly. “I’m sorry Sans.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. Just just caught me off guard, that’s all.”

“Still, you’ve been through enough recently. I shouldn’t be doing anything to make it worse if I can help it.” Gaster refused to look Sans in the eyes, guilty of his mistake.

“Look, it can’t get worse than another genocide run. I’d promised myself to take Schrödinger up on their offer if another happened.” Sans admitted. “My… my world isn't doing so well as of late.”

Gaster couldn’t help but be a little curious. “C-can I ask what it was like? At least, how you last remember it? If it’s not too hard for you to talk about that is.”

“Nah it’s fine. It wasn’t that noticeable at first, but I've noticed little things disappearing from reset to reset.” Sans started to explain. “Started out with snowpoffs and things like that, then became more... noticeable things. After this went on for a while, I did some scans. Our world was... dying. Then, a kid showed up. They looked sort of like the human causing problems but also like someone forgot to set the printer to color. Anyway, they asked me to go with them to another timeline. I declined, of course, not wanting to leave Papyrus. They said I could bring him and gave me instructions as to how to get there. Then they just... disappeared. As if they were never there. It was unbe _ leaf _ able. There weren't even any footprints in the snow where they had stood.”

Even though the pun was there to lighten the mood, Gaster was still too concerned to laugh. “Well, um, then what?”

“I went back home where Paps was cooking his infamous spaghetti. He started talking about his training with Undyne. Then... nothing. I ended up here.” Then he stopped, realizing something. “Wait… I remember something from a few timelines ago. There was another skeleton. A very... brightly coloured one.”

That caught Gaster’s attention. “I believe that would have been Fresh. And would that be from before things started to disappear?

“Nah,” Sans shook his head. “Stuff already had started disappearing.”

“Hmm, but that wouldn't omit the possibility of him being the cause. Just because you didn't see him already doesn't mean he wasn't already there.”

“Is this Fresh guy the parasite?” Sans asked.

“Oh! Yes! That would be him. I guess I did not mention the... name…” Gaster trailed off, thinking of something bad. “Oh no…”

“What? What’s wrong?” Sans asked, slightly concerned.

“I was just working on putting the pieces of info you gave me and what I already had together. Since Fresh leaves his hosts behind when he takes a new one, and you said he was last a skeleton…” Gaster shook his head. “No, I shouldn't possibly upset you more.”

“I can take it. I'm emotionally stronger than everyone gives me credit for.” Sans said, wanted to know what Gaster had thought of.

“I know that, but I still don't like it.”

“C'mon, the curiosity is killing me.”

“Well, you can't remember when Fresh... obtained your body through possession which means you have some amnesia.” Gaster began. “If he previously had a skeleton body, let’s assume it may have been a Sans from another universe, hopefully I am wrong but... what if your brother doesn't know you're gone?”

“I doubt that. Paps worries about me a lot. He'd have at least tried to contact me by now... Right?”

“Maybe he has.” Gaster conceded. “But if so, all he would have reached was that parasite.

“His lingo would have worried Papyrus more.”

“Yes it would have worried m-him.”

Sans looked at Gaster curiously at the slight slip up in his speech, but he gave a slight shrug and ignored it. “What if Papyrus questioned Fresh and got hurt? What if-” His eye sockets widened. “Oh stars, what if that Ink showed up again? He would probably make things worse.”

“Can I ask what happened last time 'that Ink' showed up?” Gaster said, remembering that Fresh brought up someone with that name.

“It was when Fresh spoke to me. Ink appeared through a rainbow portal, asking Fresh to leave. Fresh tried to brush him off, but Ink seemed to insist. I don't think Fresh liked Ink interfering.”

“Ah, well then.” Gaster sighed, a little disappointed that there was so little information, but he knew he shouldn’t complain. “Well, I think you should rest. You still need some healing, and sleeping will help you along. I know you're the  _ relax-king _ , but if you need help finding a bed or something…” He trailed off. They were in the void, so finding anything like that would be hard. “Since Leigh will be staying with you, if you wake up and I am not around, they should be able to help you find me. Alright?”

“Sounds good to me.” He stretched before doing his best to get comfy on the ground. “Sleep always is a skeleton’s  _ rest _ friend.”

Gaster smiled a little at the pun. “Goodnight Sans. Sleep well.”


	4. Papyrus' New Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fresh/Frisk and Chara hang out with Papyrus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so this doesn’t really come up as much in the earlier chapters, but it’s probably good to know anyway. We have been working on this for over two years. We started this in November of 2017 and work on it daily. Because of that, the story has evolved so much and there are things that come up that we completely retcon because we actually forgot about it. Like, I’m pretty sure at one point we had characters show up only for them to come back later like we had never seen them before. Large stuff I know of like that I’ll try to fix within this story, but smaller stuff that just showed up and we never went over it again? Well, too bad. If anything this story will remind us and then we’ll do it again.   
> Addition/Spoilerish: wow i’m glad i decided to put this in here because near the end I needed to fix up some stuff. Originally Dee was not an outcode, but since they become an antagonist at one point, we made them an outcode, so I changed it up here.

Papyrus placed a plate of spaghetti in front of the still possessed by Fresh Frisk. “Here You Go! Eat Up!”

“Wow thanks brah.” Fresh thanked along with some finger guns. “I'll all up enjoy dis yo.”

“That Is Good! I Believe.” Papyrus said, not completely understanding what Fresh was saying. “Well Then. So Your Name Is Fresh?”

“Yup. I'm the raddest baddest brah in the multiverse. I’m your homeslice bread slice garlic bread yo!”

“I Do Not Understand The Second Part Of What You Said.”

“I'm your freshest buddy yo.” Fresh tried clarifying. “I'm the bringer of peace to da multiverse. I take away all da badness! No more anger allowed.”

“Oh! Wowie! That Sounds Amazing!” Papyrus exclaimed with a smile.

But then Chara spoke up. “Except for the fact you're hurting Frisk while doing that.”

“Your buddy is fiiiiiine.” Fresh tried to calm Chara down, but his smile had still faltered from the comment. “Take a chill pill and have a rad time bro!”

“Look... Frisk is the one person who can see me.” Chara lamented. “While you can it's... it's not the same.”

“What are you all up sayin brah?” Fresh asked.

“What if you do something to Frisk? What if... What if you stop seeing me?” Chara said, their voice filled with fear and anxiety. “I don't want to be alone again.”

Fresh has stopped smiling. “Brah, I don't get all dis emotion stuff so I can't say I understand, but lemme explain you a thing. What would killing Frisk get me? Nothing. I avoid killing my hosts, so don't you worry your pretty little face.”

“Um... I Don't Quite Understand What You Are Talking About,” Papyrus spoke up, not following along since he could only hear one half of the conversation. “But You Mentioned Hosts A Few Times. What Do You Mean By That?”

“I'm just talking to this stabby lil ghost in da room brah.” Fresh replied after a slight pause. “Ya see, your Frisky Bits buddy is helping me not die and dats what I meant. I was all up explaining how wack the thought of me killin your buddy chum pal would be.” he paused again, but this time it was to shoot some finger guns at the skeleton. “Ya get what I'm sayin brah?”

“I Think So. But Before You Had Frisk As Your 'Host' You Must Have Had Someone Else, Correct?”

“Eyy you understand my fresh lingo.” Fresh said, glad that Papyrus was catching on now. “Dats rad yo.”

“Well It Is Still A Bit Confusing, But It Is Similar To a Puzzle!” Papyrus quickly explained. 

“Puzzles are super fresh brah. Dey be da bomb diggidy”

“Indeed They Are!”

Chara spoke up once more with something that made Fresh frown again. “You know... you didn't answer his question. And I sort of want to know the answer as well.”

“Yeah, I've had many hosts before dis one. I'm honestly surprised I've held out this long with Frisky Bits. Such a determined child. It's why I usually avoid humans.” Fresh ended with a small shrug.

“What Do You Mean By That?” Papyrus questioned. “You Don't Like To Be Friends With Humans?”

Fresh just looked down. “I've had... a human friend before. I just avoid having them help me out with dis, ya know? It's more effort than I prefer.”

“Well If You're Tired, You Should Eat!” Papyrus pushed the plate of food slightly closer to Fresh. “You Don't Want Your Spaghetti To Get Cold!”

That got Fresh smiling again. “Thanks broski. Dis spaghetti pasketti is p neat yo.”

“Thank You!” Papyrus beamed before running off to the kitchen for some more cooking.

“Can I ask a question now?” Chara asked once Papyrus had left, though they knew he would come back sooner or later.

“Sure my fiiiiine brotatochip.” Fresh replied with a wink.

“How long do you think you're going to be um,” They paused, slightly uncomfortable with asking the question. “Using Frisk as a host?”

“Not long, they're pretty strong. I'll fresh poof like fresh baked bread and be gone before you can say exactly how fresh your freshest buddy is. I just need a squiggle bit of time to get used to them before I can go find a better host.”

“What if you can't find one?” Chara asked, concerned.

“Brah, there's an entire multiverse out dere. I can find someone with a soul who is easy to deal with yo. It'll be p easy yo.”

“Multiverse?” Chara asked again. “What do you mean?”

“You don't know 'bout da multiverse? Brah, its so big I got a universe to myself out dere.” Fresh started to explain. “Of course, they're all taken so I got to go elsewhere for hosts. There's lots of weirdo out-codes like myself. I even got two bros out dere - one is suuuper salty and da other is totally wack - and I used to have a freshest buddy besides myself! There's a guardian and my wack bro is tryin to destroy it all, they have a kid for some reason. He's a weird kid. Super salty and really doesn't like me. He says some of the weirdest things too... Whatever, the multiverse is big. I'm gonna freshify it all and make it peaceful one of these days.”

“So, how do you get around?” Chara said as they tried to process all the information they had just gotten.

“Kinda like your Sansy's shortcuts, but on a dimensional level. I call it my Fresh Poof. Its da bomb diggidy yo. Others have other means of movin' about.”

That caught Chara’s attention. “So if you go to another universe to get a host, how will Frisk get back here?”

“I can bring 'em back. Normally I do,” Fresh reassured Chara, though there was a little more to it. “But occasionally I'll leave one around and about to mess with Ink. It’s always hilarious to see dat sack of apathy get "mad" at me. He doesn't fool me.   
  


“Does that mean we will still get home?”

Fresh nodded. “Yup. Ink's already gonna be lookin for my last host so I'll bring ya back. This has been entertaining enough.”

“Where did you leave the last guy?” Chara asked since they had been brought up.

They just got a shrug from the parasite as he replied. “In da void.”

It was then that Papyrus returned from the kitchen. “What's In The Void?”

“An old friend of yours you may or may not remember, a few souls and my last host.”

Papyrus was quiet for a few moments as he put a hand to his chin in thought before responding with an “Alright Then!”

“Ink'll find him soon.” Fresh added, stretching. “Then he'll show up and yell at me for ‘messin' with the stories’.”

“Is That All?” Papyrus asked with a small frown. “Or Will He Be Able To Stay For More Spaghetti?”

Fresh just shrugged. “I dunno, he might stay. I overheard Blueberry talkin about how Underswap Papyrus slammed him against a wall and cracked his skull, so you might need ta invite him to eat spaghetti. Unless Ink doesn't feel fear either. Buuut whatevs.”

“I Hope He Was Not Too Hurt After That.” The skeleton said, shocked about this Ink person being hurt by someone with his name.

“He's cool brah, I don’t think he can die.” Fresh replied which helped Papyrus calm down a bit. “He's been runnin around getting into trouble for a while brah, since way before my time. I think he would have gotten himself killed by now if he could die.”

“Well He Should Be More Careful! Now! Would You Like To Stay The Night?” Papyrus offered, especially since there was someplace open where Frisk would be. “I Can Call Queen Toriel.”

Fresh smiled and attempted to put his hands into some pockets but was unable to since the altered outfit of Frisk’s he was wearing had none. “That'd be rad yo. Thanks my homeslice.”

“Then I Will Get The Phone!” Papyrus exclaimed before running upstairs to get his cellphone which he had left in his room.

Chara sighed a little. “Well at least Sans is busy with Alphys. He gets up enough on Frisk's case when someone mentions me, who knows how he would react to you.”

Fresh just shrugged. “Yeah, Honey is essentially a taller version of your Sans, hopefully he would be chill yo.”

“Well he's chill when Papyrus is around, but the second he got us alone.” Chara said, rolling their eyes.

“I gotchu brah.” Fresh smiled, noticing what Chara had said. “He all up gives ya a bad time, ammiright?”

“Yeah someti-” They cut themselves off as they noticed Fresh’s smile and realized. "Wait did I say he's 'chill'?”

Fresh’s grin grew even more “Eyyy my radness if rubbing off on da small stabby ghost. That's adorable.” And he ended with a wink.

“Wait, hold on, am I the Stabby Ghost?”

“Yeah brah. Just like how Underswap Chara is the cute stabby child, Underswap Frisk is da evil stabby child, Underfell Chara is da edgy stabby child and Storyshift Chara is da stabby teen. I gotta keep track of everyone somehow yo.” He ended with a shrug.

Chara held the bridge of their nose as they sighed. “Okay first of all, I am a spirit, not a ghost. Ghosts are a type of monster. And second, Why are we all stabby?”

“Many of you all up stab everyone in sight. Its kinda rare to see nice Charas bro.” Fresh explained.

“Why would I want to stab anyone?” Chara asked. Yeah maybe in the past they hated people and wanted them to get hurt a bit, which got amplified when their soul was absorbed, but after spending years watching all the other fallen humans, they changed their view.

“Don't ask me brah, I tend to avoid killin'. At least I'm not Characist like a certain out-code reaper.”

“I’m sorry, what dude?! Wait I said dude.” They mentally panicked at them picking up Fresh’s ‘lingo’.

“Lol, this is hilarious.” Fresh smiled before getting back on topic. “Anyways, there's an out of code kid that for some wack reasons hates all Charas. I dont understand why, but I learned that people aren't always rad.

“Yeah.” Chara thought of some experiences they remembered with people like that. “Sometimes people are like that.”

“It's totally wack yo. But ya have to look on da brightside and ignore dem sin craving bros.”

“I guess you're right bro.”

“You're getting the hang of dat super radtastical lingo brah.” Fresh added with a wink.

“And I'm not a fan of it.” Chara replied with a slight growl. 

“Awww you're like PJ. Dat's hilarious. You'll warm up to it”

“Who's PJ?” Chara asked. There were so many people that this guy knew, and it was probably good to learn about them in case anyone showed up because of Fresh.

“He's a salty little out-code who had picked up my lingo for a little bit. He dropped it eventually, but he was so mad at me brah. It was hilarious.” That made Chara stifle a laugh. At least they weren’t the only one who had to deal with accidentally talking like Fresh. “He started using some colourful lingo and got even madder when I started censoring him. His face was gnarly brah.”

“Okay... that sounds funny mah bro.” Chara laughed though they internally cringed at themselves.

Fresh nodded before his smile dropped. “Den I ran into a seven year old.”

That confused chara a bit “Uh, what do you mean by that?”

“Brah, it was totally wack and confusing. The kid seemed to recognize me, but he also seemed ta hesitate talking to me?” Fresh tried explaining.

“Maybe... they met another version of you?” That was Chara’s first guess based on some of their previous conversation. “Like how you said there are different versions of Frisk and I.”

Fresh just shrugged again. “Brah, I've only ever met one other version of me. It was a kid and wasn't like me. I dunno what the dealio was with the 7 year old. He had a scarf like half the out-codes, but it was more flowy, like PJ's entire freaking body. It confused the heck out of me.”

“Okay now that's whack brah. Also please make this stop.”

Before Fresh could say anything, Papyrus returned, running down the stairs with cellphone in hand. “I Have Called Queen Toriel And Informed Her You Will Be Staying Here For The Night!”

“Thanks brah, you're the bomb diggity.” Fresh smiled shooting some finger guns.

“I Have Also Prepared Sleeping Bags! One For Each Of Us So Neither Is Upset About Not Having The Bed Since Queen Toriel Was Unsure About You Going Back Home!”

“Cool beans yo.” Fresh smiled as the words of his glasses suddenly changed to say ‘HELP ME’ for just a second.

Papyrus had a keen enough eye that the change didn’t go unnoticed. “Help You With What?”

“I dunno what you’re talking about brah, I'm fine.”

“I Thought Your Glasses Said 'Help Me' For A Moment!”

That made Fresh’s smile falter for a moment. “Uh… Must've been my magic testin out the glasses in this new form brah, don’t worry about it.” Then there was a sort of flash as Frisk’s normal look replaced Fresh before becoming colorful again. “Or my hold becoming unstable.”

“Oh No! ...What Does That Mean?”

Fresh waved off Papyrus’ concern. “Just a small malfunction brah, I can handle it”

“Well If That Is All.” Papyrus said, though he was still skeptical.

“Yeah brah, just slight discomfort.” The parasite reassured.

“Well It Is Getting Late! Would You Like To Head Up To Bed When You Finish Your Spaghetti?”

“Sure brah.”

“Well Then I Will Set Everything Up!” Papyrus replied before running back upstairs.

Fresh watched Papyrus go and kept staring upstairs before slumping in his chair. “I wonder how he'd react if I told him.”

Chara didn’t like Fresh’s tone of voice. “Told him what?”

“Nothing brah.” He tried to get Chara to ignore it. “Just curiosity.”

“Well you know how the saying goes…” Chara scolded.

“Curiosity killed the child?” Fresh asked, not actually knowing.

“Well, cat instead of child. And the second part?”

“What second part?” Fresh was still confused.

“There are two parts to that phrase!” Chara replied, somewhat exasperated. “Curiosity killed the cat and satisfaction brought it back. So, can I know what you were thinking about then?”

“I wondered what he would think if I told him that I don't actually need to eat.”

The spirit stared, not expecting that to be what Fresh was hiding, but then shrugged. “You don't need to, but can you still eat if you want bruh?”

“Duh, I just dont always eat dat much yo.” 

“Look, can you at least eat this to make him happy?” Chara half pleaded. “Or at least taste is because I know it tastes... bad to humans but technically you're a monster, I think. If it doesn't taste good, then tell him, okay?”

“Sure thing stabby ghost.” Fresh agreed with a wink before adding on, “And I am not a monster.”

“Please, at least can you call me stabby spirit? Alliteration and all that yo.”

“Whatever floats your radical boat yo.”

“Thanks. So, How's the grub mah boi?” They asked before adding ‘oh god it’s getting worse’ under their breath.

“It’s better than a lot of the Papyrus cooking I've tasted.” Fresh shrugged.

“That's good. Ya gonna eat it all broski or ya gonna bring on the bad vibes for Papy?” They forced a smile as they both screamed and cringed internally. 

“I might as well eat it all. It may appease the frisky bits.” Fresh said before explaining a little bit. “They're fighting p hard yo. Getting a little difficult.”

Chara stared for a moment. They didn’t like how Fresh possessing Frisk was affecting them and their human friend, but after just being with Frisk for so long, Fresh was a nice change of pace in a way. “Are you sure there isn't a way for you to stay without needing a host or something?”

“Nah brah, I'm a parasite.” Fresh answered, shaking his head. “I need a host or I risk death. I don't feel much, but I do fear death.”

“Oh.” Chara sounded disappointed. “Well is there any way for me to talk to Frisk while you're using them as a host?”

Fresh stopped smiling. “I could loosen up slightly. My magic might slip a bit and they'll be able to talk with my glasses. But it won’t be much, and they're not technically conscious.”

“Maybe I could convince them you don't mean too much harm. They would trust me better than you. But only because it might help Frisk better. I just don't want them getting hurt or have you disappeared and making Papyrus sad.”

“Why would you do that? Why would you help me?” The offer of help was confusing to Fresh.

“I said it would be for Frisk and Papyrus! Besides, Frisk would try to help you like this.”

“Either way you're helping me.” Fresh pointed out.

“Yeah bruh, now do ya want the help or nah?”

Fresh sighed and agreed before his glasses went blank for a moment to let Frisk through. Then on the glasses appeared the two words from before. ‘HELP ME.’

Chara quickly moved closer. They didn’t quite know what to do, but they were going to try anyway. “Frisk! Can you hear me? Say yes if you can!” But the glasses just changed to say ‘IT HURTS’ “Please! Frisk! If you can hear me I might be able to help!”

Just after the glasses changed to ‘STOP IT’ they went blank as Fresh spoke through gritted teeth. “Th-they’re really fightin’”

Seeing Frisk in this state worried Chara. Even if Fresh said they would be fine in the end, it was still enough to make Chara tear up in fear. “Frisk! S-Stop fighting! I know it hurts but…” They trailed off as their voice caught in their throat.

“I-it only hurts them w-when they're fighting.” Fresh managed to get out.

Chara gripped their chest before trying again to reach Frisk. :It only hurts more if you fight. Please Frisk... Listen to me!”

“It’s not damaging, just straining.” Fresh started before losing his colorful appears for a moment again. “Th-they’re strong yo.”

“F-Frisk…” Chara half whispered before thinking of an idea. “Fresh, is a double possession possible at all?”

The parasite managed a shrug. “I've never done it in the sense you're thinking. At least in the way I think you’re thinking.:

“Well I'm going to try. This is gonna hurt like- well, you know what I mean. Look out.” They prepared themselves mentally, cracking their knuckles and neck. “Here I come.”

Fresh braced himself as suddenly Chara seemed to disappear, though he could feel a sort of energy pull itself into the soul he was possessing. Then he could hear Chara. It wasn’t really something he could see since he was only attached to the soul, but he could probably communicate if he could hear both of them.

Chara on the other hand was now feeling the pain that Frisk felt and it took them off guard for a moment, but they still called out for Frisk. “Frisk?! Are you here? If you can hear me, don’t worry! I’m coming over!”

They jumped slightly as Fresh’s voice seemed to come from everywhere around them. “They’re in the back somewhere.”

Chara quickly recovered and nodded before floating off to what seemed to be the furthest reaches of whatever this area was. It was probably just Frisk’s soul, but Fresh’s possession had altered the appearance of everything. “Frisk… Where are you? Ugh, it’s times like this that I hate they’re mute.”

Then Fresh’s voice came back. “Pretty sure they can think yo. You may be able to hear dem if they're not mute in their own head.”

Chara took a deep breath to steady themselves with everything being so jarring to them. “A-Alright then. Frisk! Can you hear me?” 

There were a few moments of tense silence before a new voice pierced the silence. <C-Chara!>

“The Frisky Bits is conscious yo!” Came Fresh’s voice right after as Chara went towards where Frisk was. “Talking 'em out of fighting against me would be da bomb diggity.”

It took a bit of searching along the lines of marco polo but eventually, Chara saw Frisk and raced to them. “Frisk! Are y-” They cut themselves off as they truly saw the state Frisk was in. Surrounding them was a dark purple glow and they were restrained by multiple tentacles of the same color if a little lighter. They looked up to see Chara and there was pain in their eyes. Chara moves closer and held them to hopefully bring them comfort. “Frisk y-you’re okay! W-well… mostly okay. You’re alive at least.”

Frisk tried moving one of their hands but could only make it go about an inch. <Help me. Please.>

Chara nodded. “Th-that’s what I’m here to do. But Frisk, the w-way to do that is you have to stop fighting. It’s h-hurting you more. Please Frisk I know what it’s like to want to f-fight for control. I did that when me and A-Asriel…” They choked up at the name which made Frisk calm slightly as they stopped focusing on the situation they were in and instead on their friend. “And look, I don’t like this guy, but even if he’s controlling or possessing or whatever with your body, he’s just using it for now. It’s kind of keeping him alive. He just needs a little more time before getting a new one.

“A-and Frisk, it hurts me too r-right now. And it hurts me that you’re hurting too. If y-you need me again, you can f-fight a little and I’ll come back. D-Don’t worry Frisk. I won’t let a-anything happen to you. You’re one of my b-best friends. A-and you’re pretty much the o-only one I have right now.”

Frisk nodded and seemed to calm the rest of the way down as they stopped fighting. Chara gave out a small sigh, glad that this even worked. <Okay Chara.> was all they said. There was a slight bit of pain behind the smile, but it was better than how they started.

“Brah, I totally ship it.” Fresh’s voice broke the silence and left Chara reeling.

“W-whAT?!” They yelled almost at the top of their lungs.

“Stabby Spirit and Frisky Bits. It’s OTP now yo.”

Chara’s mouth was left wide open as they tried to think of something to say, but they didn’t get the chance. They were now in Frisk’s territory now. <Hey did you sit on some sugar, cause you got one sweet ass.>

Chara quickly turned to look at Frisk again. “Frisk nO!!”

“Are your parents bakers yo, cause you have some hot buns brah.” Came Fresh’s voice again.

“Not you too!”

“Are you jealous?” He said and Chara could practically hear the wink in his voice.

Chara tried to respond but Frisk cut them off. <I think there's something wrong with my eyes, because I can't take them off you~> Chara screeched in silence as the human continued, speaking to Fresh now. <Hey, you got a raisin?>

“Uh, no. Sorry broski.”

<Then how about a date?> They finished along with a somewhat sexy eyebrow wiggle. 

“Haha, nice.” Fresh complimented Frisk on the flirting.

Unfortunately, it was too much for Chara, and they went to find a way out of the soul. As they looked, Fresh took a shot at the flirting. “Are you made of copper and tellurium?”

<Maybe> Frisk answered, ready for the second half.

“Well that explains why you're CuTe.”

Frisk blushed and almost started something new when Chara found a way out and cut Frisk off from Fresh. Chara looked around, glad to be out, then focused on Fresh. “Hey, let’s go upstairs to see Papyrus and do absolutely no flirting, okay?

“Darn, flirting is fun though.” Fresh said with a wink.

“I stopped liking it after they flirted with my mom!” Chara explained. It was also because Frisk did it too much, but that would hurt Frisk’s feelings if they could still hear them after calming down.

“Brah, why wouldn't they flirt with Toriel for fun?” Fresh asked.

“Because she's my mom!”

“And?”

Chara groaned. “Let's just leave the topic alone and continue with the sleepover!”

“Whatever floats your fresh boat brah.” Fresh replied with a shrug before going upstairs. They found the room already mostly set up by Papyrus, though he was still trying to find ways to improve things. Reluctantly, Fresh got into what was likely his sleeping bag since it was smaller. Well likely it was Sans’ and not his, but whatever. 

He pretended to sleep for a few hours until Papyrus had used up all his energy and slept on his own. Then Chara decided to start up a conversation. Though they didn’t need to since only Fresh could hear them, Chara still whispered in hopes that Fresh would mimic their voice level. “So, can you sleep too or not?”

Fresh fortunately kept quiet as well. “I dunno. Never tried before brah.”

“I've tried.” Chara started, sounding sad. “Not that fun for me. Just... scary.” They then curled up into a ball thinking about whatever experience they had been through.”

Fresh couldn’t really be sympathetic so he just shrugged. “That sucks.”

“Yeah, so instead I just end up exploring or answering questions. Though i can't really do the latter because apparently you showing up broke it. We managed to somehow hook up a blog or whatever to the save file so I could answer questions for the blog. It’s the closest to having people being able to see me though they mainly think I’m made up.”

“Sorry 'bout dat brah.”

“It's fine. I’m just gonna go look around. I won’t be far.” Then Chara faded away. But since Chara wasn’t there, the space was open for Dee. 

Their voice came from right next to Fresh’s borrowed ear. “Wow... so it decided to help you, did it?”

“I guess so dawg.” Fresh replied, turning to look at Dee, who was starting to have their form appear.

“You know it'll just stab you in the back later, right?” Dee said, trying to influence Fresh to turn on Chara.

But Fresh just shrugged. “Probably, but I'm used to dat by now.”

“Oh are you now?” Dee attempted again.

“Long story. Anyways, you're da other Chara of this universe, right brah?” Fresh asked.

“I'm  _ the _ Chara of this universe.” Dee growled out. It wasn’t the whole truth, but they didn’t think the parasite needed to know that.

“Well the other one seems tethered to da Frisk, like the Charas of most universes. Unless you're talking role switches.”

That was something they actually didn’t know about. “Role switches?”

“Like in Storyshift. Chara plays the role of Classic Sans and Asriel plays the role of Classic Papyrus. In this, Frisk and Chara are not tethered, otherwise they would not be able to fight at the end of a genocide run. It’s really interesting, because Frisk created this AU themself.”

“Ooooo kaaaaaaay…” Dee responded. It wasn’t that they didn’t understand what he was talking about. It was just how he explained it. Though most people were clueless, Dee definitely knew about stuff like this.

“Ink actually tells me a lot about the AUs, so I know about as much as Dream and Error do.” Fresh added. If it were to try and impress Dee, it didn’t work.

“Sure... anyway, what are you planning? If you're used to being stabbed in the back then I know you have to be planning something for the backstabbers.” They gave a small yet creepy smile.”Because I know I may or may not have a plan for you if you need something.

“Wait... You're the evil stabby ghost!” Fresh realized due to the smile. “That makes much more sense. Like garlic bread level sense!”

Dee rolled their eyes and crossed their arms. “Meanwhile you make absolutely no sense, which actually makes sense since it's you.”

“That's p cold yo.”

“It's just the truth. Oh I'm sorry the truth hurts sometimes.”

“Brah, I don’t think you understand.”

“What don't I understand?” Dee asked with a raised eyebrow,

Fresh’s smile dropped. “A lot of things.”

“And of course you would stop making sense again. That's just how idiotic you are.” They tried upsetting the parasite for thinking they were ill informed.

“I could explain the chances of having two Charas in one AU, but I don't think you'd understand that.”

“I’m sure you’ll say extremely low chances. That normally there's only one of me. But here we got very lucky and there's two. Me, and the other thing. I’d say the truth,” They then looked over to the sleeping form of Papyrus.”But we shouldn't talk anymore. I don't want Sans destroying my body, especially when I'm not using it right now.”

“Alright then.” Fresh said with a wink as Dee faded away. Chara didn’t come back right about that, leaving the parasite alone in the dark.


	5. Let's go and meet the souls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> back in the void, we meet the souls of the previous humans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *-looks at a paper-* What do you mean the information is outdated? How long is it now? Wh- Over 7 million?! I guess I need to write more, huh.   
> Other than this, i don’t really have much to say, so if you’re reading this, uhhhh leave questions about this in the comments?

When Sans woke up and found himself back in the void, he stared for a few moments at the two souls floating above him before he groaned. “Oh no, not this life again.” Then he sat up, stretching and popping his bones after sleeping on the ground.

The two souls above him were the green soul from before when he fell asleep. The other was new and spotted a purple hue and glow. The green one moves a little closer before gaining what seemed to be a happy glow. “So… ‘Sup?” Sans asked the souls, getting more glowing from the green soul while the purple one had a more pulsing glow. “Cool. I uh, still don’t speak  _ soul- _ code. Okay yeah that was a bit of a stretch.”

The glow of the second soul faded, which concerned Sans. “Uh, you okay?” He asked as the green soul floated around their friend. The glow returned as the second soul floated away. The first soul moved next to Sans and nudged him towards where the other was floating off to. “Do you want me to get up?” he asked, making the green souls glow brightly. Sans gave a small sigh as he started to get up. “I’m taking that as a yes.”

The green soul kept nudging him forwards, making Sans give a small chuckle. “So you want me following you too? Seems like lots of work.” The soul just flowed more before flying off in the direction the purple soul went, leaving Sans having to catch up to the two of them. 

Slowly, a green glow appeared in the distance, and he thought it was his soul friend until there was some shouting he could hear. “What the-“ Sans started before just trying to listen to what was being said. He was still at a distance, so he couldn’t catch everything. Still, some that could be heard were ‘Sans!’ ‘Human!’ ‘Genocide!’ ‘Lazy’ and ‘Papyrus.’ It confused Sans and he walked closer, noticing the green glow was coming from Gaster, and indeed he was also the one shouting. Still, Sans couldn’t tell why he was shouting and at who if anyone.

“Sans! Sans stop ignoring me! The human! The human! Sans! I'm not joking! Sans don't make me use my brother voice! Oh yes I would! This is serious!” Sans was feeling hurt for a moment before he realized it was not directed at him.

Moving closer, Sans saw that Gaster seemed to just be talking into thin air. He hoped that the taller skeleton hadn’t gone crazy, then tried to learn what was going on. “What are you going on about?”

But Gaster didn’t seem to notice and continued on. “Sans! No! Listen! Do you want Papyrus to die?! Sans! Yes! Yes Sans! Wait... No! No no no! SANS!”

“Gaster? Is everything alright?” Sans tried again, trying to get Gaster’s attention by moving in front of him, but is still managed not to work. The two souls from before, the one Gaster had been with at the start, and three other souls appeared and floated around Gaster, flickering as if they were trying to talk to him. Under his breath, Sans said, “Heh, wish I learned morse code.” Before the green soul nudged him closer to Gaster.

“Uh, do you want me to comfort him?” Sans asked as the soul kept nudging him closer. “Uh, okay.” He moved closer as Gaster kept mumbling at where the other Sans went. “Hey, Gaster?”

“Not answering. Not there.” Gaster continued to mumble, not noticing Sans still. “Not there. Oh you better not be there. Where did he go, where did he go?”

Sans waved his hands in Gaster’s face. “Gaster!”

That seemed to register to Gaster. “Wait… what the-” He blinked a few times, his gaze no longer seeming like he was staring into space. “Oh, Sans! Y-You’re awake! How did you heal?”

The skeleton just shrugged. “Eh, pretty well. My soul feels fine, but a little drained. I probably shouldn’t use magic for a while.”

Gaster nodded. “That seems logical. We shouldn’t need to use it much here anyway.” He then turned to the green soul. “And Leigh?” was all he said, which made them flicker a bit. “That’s good.”

Before they could talk anymore, Sans spoke up. "So um, are you okay?”

Gaster turned to look at the other skeleton, looking slightly confused. “Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?” He asked before glows from the soul answered him. “O-oh, you heard all of… that?”

Sans nodded sheepishly. “Yeah, can I ask what’s going on with whatever that was?”

“I’m just… trying to warn others about Fresh. He’s causing problems over there.” Gaster looked worried. “I’ve got one person I can communicate with but the equipment is shoddy and half the time they refuse to listen to me. He at least listened to me this time since it involves family. Well, family he cares about.”

Sans signed and then put a hand on Gaster’s shoulder, which he quickly stopped because with their heights, it was just awkward to do. “Look, I don’t know about your family situation, but I’m pretty sure deep down inside of him is part of him that still cared about you. As Paps would say, ‘You have to keep trying.’”

“Well, you’re right about that.” Gaster said with a small smile, then gave a calming sigh before changing the topic. “So, now that you’re awake, what would you like to do? I mean there’s not much to do here other than talk. So um… maybe that was a bad question. How about I introduce you to the humans?”

Sans gave a small shrug. “Sure, that sounds good.”

“So of course you already know Leigh,” Gaster started, gesturing to the green soul.

“Kindness, right?” Sans asked, making Gaster nod. “Cool, I’m Sans, but you probably already knew that.”

Gaster carefully pulled out the teal soul that had been in his pocket which just rested on his hand, not really floating. “Patience you’ve seen enough as well. Their name is Kiki.” He spoke quietly before carefully putting the soul back in his pocket.

Sans gave a small laugh. “They asleep?”

“Yes, clothes are softer than everything else and they’re small enough to use them as blankets of some sorts.” Gaster quickly explained before getting back on topic. “So I believe Perseverance was with you when you awoke? Their name is Sam. They were- sorry, are good friends with Leigh. Then the others... Bravery is Ricki, justice is Charlie and integrity is Pat.”

It didn’t take long for those souls to float closer so Sans could see them all at once. “Sup, as I said before, I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton. I'd shake your hands but... uh.. you don't have any.”

“And I doubt you have a whoopie cushion either.” Gaster said sarcastically, attempting to hide a smile behind his hand, but the holes present in his palms made him unable to do so easily.

Sans just gasped in fake indignation. “You dare doubt me? I always have a whoopie cushion!” And he ended his sentence by pulling the offending object out of his pocket. “See?”

Gaster held in a laugh. “Well then, I am sorry for doubting you.”

Sans just gave a shrug before putting the whoopie cushion back into his pocket. “Eh, it’s okay. How else am I supposed to catch people in the  _ dark _ ?”

“Alright, that one was good.” Gaster said with a small chuckle before Ricki suddenly floated over and glowed brightly. “No. Don’t you dare.” The skeleton said like he was scolding them before Charlie floated over and did the same. “You Too?!”

“What’s going on?” Sans asked, unable to understand the souls.

“You’ve gotten them to start punning!” Gaster yelled in exasperation before continuing his attempts to stop the punning souls, his efforts going to waste as Sam joined in.

Sans just started laughing. “Mweh heh, that’s great.” Then he pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. “I’ve done well, they’re all grown up now.”

“No! You have not done well! This is almost as bad as when I heard the queen’s first pun!”

But the other skeleton didn’t care as he kept laughing. “This is gold!”

“I am regretting being fine with you staying here.”

The comment from Gaster got Sans to stop laughing as he gasped dramatically. “How rude! I come here and cheer you up and I get this? So mean!” Gaster just glared at Sans. “Whaaat? I’m just teasing you.”

“I’ve had enough teasing to last a lifetime!” Gaster exclaimed before Sam floated over to right in front of his face, glowing slightly. “What?” he simply asked before they glowed a little brighter. “That’s it! You’re all banned from punning until Sans leaves! And Sans, you can still pun.”

“Aww, but they were probably good.”

“They-” Gaster started. “Okay well they were, but I can’t take that many puns at once!”

“Guess that makes sense.” Sans said with a shrug. “Hey by the way, how can you understand them?”

The question made Gaster pause. “I can’t quite remember. I’ve been in here so long. My guess is plenty of time and resets, but don’t quote me on that.” Sans nodded at the answer. “If you want to learn, it possibly could be easier the second time around since we know it can actually happen since technically we’re not starting from scratch this time.”

“Yeah, I’d like to learn how to talk to them. Besides, who knows how long I’ll be here for.”

“Alright, I guess we can start with visuals since I at least know how to explain that. Depending on their emotions, they glow brighter or dimmer. Usually easy to tell which is which. I know they also tend to glow brighter when saying yes and dimmer for no if they’re asked simple questions, so that can work for now. Do you understand and want to try that?”

Sans took a moment to process all the information before nodding. “Yeah, sure.”

“Alright then, why not ask Leigh a question?”

“Alright then. Uhh…” He paused to think of something. “On a scale of one to ten, with seven being the highest, which animal is the best colour in the alphabet?”

“Sans!” Gaster shouted at the choice of question.

“What? It can be a valid question?” He replied just before Leigh glowed softly with their answer. “I assume you don’t know?”

“No, they said beep.” Gaster translated for the soul. “But really I meant for you to ask a yes or no question.”

“Well the answer is circle, and you should have specified in the first place.” Sans said before Leigh dimmed their glow. “Anyways, uh, do you like french fries?” He got a bright glow from them. “Cool. I’m a fan of them, though I like burgers a bit more.”

At this point, Pat floated over and flickered as they asked Gaster a question which made him blush a little bit. “No! Don’t bring that up! In fact, when he can understand you, we won’t talk about it!”

Sans paused before asking Gaster, “Talk about what?” 

That seemed to make the taller skeleton blush more. “I said no!”

“C’mon, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Who would you even tell?”   
  


Sans shrugged. “That’s just it. I won’t tell anyone if I can’t.”

“A fair point.” Gaster conceded. “But I still don’t want to! It’s… embarrassing.”

“Hey, everyone has embarrassing things.” Sans said, really curious about what this was about. “I've been told it's healthier to embrace that stuff.”

“Well I'm also nervous because I don't know what it's like where you're from.” 

  
  


“I dunno, we're pretty chill.” Sans hoped that would be enough to convince Gaster, but said more just in case. “My Gaster wasn't a nice person, but most everyone else is.”

Fortunately, it seemed to be mostly enough, though Gaster still mumbled his words. “Well... um... I may have a slight um... crush on…” and the last part was mumbled in a whisper, so Sans couldn’t hear him, making Pat nudge him. “No! I already said it!”

Sans started laughing as Pat glowed harshly. He tried hiding it, but it was just enough that he was failing.

“Hey! Don’t laugh at me!”

“Heh, sorry.” Sans tried stifling his laughs. “You're just so embarrassed and it's probably something silly to be embarrassed over. Unless it's a crush on, I don't know, Jerry, there's nothing to be embarrassed about! People have crushes all the time and I understand if you'd be crushed if it spread to the whole Underground. But it’s not a big deal to have a crush.

He was hesitant, but after a few moments, Gaster sighed and answered. “Well... um... I-it's on... Mettaton.”

Sans just blinked in small shock at the answer. “Dude. If your Underground is anything like mine, then half the people have a crush on Mettaton.”

“Well, yes they do. But… it's... different.” Was all Gaster answered with.

“How is it different? Did you kiss him or something?” Sans asked, making Gaster blush profusely. “No way. You actually kissed him? Mweheh, I feel like middle schoolers at a slumber party now.”

Charlie glew brightly making Gaster’s blush die down just a little.”No we are not!”

“Oh we totally are now.” Sans chuckled.

“Sans I don't need you goading on your siblings!” Gaster scolded before immediately replaying what he just said in his mind. “Wait. Um, whoopsy doopsy! I just remembered! I have to go to the bathroom!” He exclaimed before running off into the distance.

Sans just stared for a few moments as Gaster ran off and the souls flickered with laughter. “What? There's not even a bathroom here!” Then after another pause, he looked to the souls. “I've already gathered that this is an alternate universe, so can I assume that Papyrus doubles as Gaster in this universe?”

The flickering from the souls stopped as they answered with glows of different intensity. “I’m getting mixed signals here.” He said, making their glows dim. “Uh, sorry kiddos. I didn’t mean to upset you. Do you think you can lead me to Gaster?”

Leigh glowed brightly before floating into the distance, pausing to make sure Sans follows them, which he does. Once he catches up, the green soul continues until they eventually reach Gaster.”

“This doesn’t look like a bathroom.” Sans spoke up, loud enough for Gaster to hear him, making the skeleton jump.

“Oh! Sans! Well, it’s the void, so… um…” Gaster trailed off, unsure how to explain.

Sans just waved it off. “Heh, I’m just teasing ya. So why’d you run off?”

“I just… needed a moment.” Gaster started, sounding a little sad. “I got scared. You said you and your Gaster weren’t on the best of terms. Well, my son,  _ my _ Sans… He’s grown to hate me too. I was too absorbed in my work and now he hates me for it. I wish I could go back to tell him I’m sorry, but I can’t. And then when you were playing with the kids, I was so happy, I slipped up and acted like you were him before it happened, and then, part of me thought it would happen again.”

Sans sighed, running a hand down his face as he plopped himself down next to Gaster. “Look, you’re too nice to have been the kind of asshole who abuses his kids in experiments. I don't know what you did, but there's no way that it was as bad as what my Gaster did.” He looked at Gaster with a slight smile. “You seem like a good person, and I like to think I'm a pretty good judge, so I'll trust that you thought you were doing the right thing

“Th-thank you.” Gaster stuttered out. “Hearing that... It makes me feel a little better. But it's still not something I can get over easily.” Gaster hugged his knees. “I miss the days where I could go and tuck you and Papyrus in bed and read you bedtime stories. I wish I could have that again and not be stuck... here.” He gestured to the space all around them.

“Eh, could be worse.”

Gaster smiled faintly. “Well I guess you're correct about that.”

“'Course I am.” Sans smiled. “I’m your  _ right _ hand man.”

The taller skeleton gave a small smile and the pun before getting up. “Well, I guess we should return to the others.” Sans nodded, and Gaster started walking away before walking back to the still sitting Sans as Leigh continued on without them.

“Yeah?” Sans looked up at Gaster before he was picked up and put on Gaster’s back. “Alright, glad I don’t have to walk.”

As they started to walk back, Kiki woke up and sleepily floated out of Gaster’s pocket. They floated after the two slightly before just landing on Sans’ head, making him smile.


End file.
